Publisher’s Weekly recently reported that book sales for the first half of the year are down once again, continuing a trend that has accelerated since the pandemic. As usual, I seem to be out of…

Two of the books may draw particular local interest. Susan Jonusas takes a new look at the notorious Bender family of serial killers who waylaid travelers at their home northeast of Cherryvale between May 1871…

Author Paul Griffin didn’t just ask Iola High School senior Jake Skahan to share his story. He coaxed it out of him. It started with the usual “getting-to-know-you” chitchat in an auditorium filled with a…

Iola Reads is leaning into renewed interest in World War I. The horrors of the first global war are vividly captured in the Oscar-nominated movie “All Quiet On the Western Front” at the same time…

Santa Claus came to town on Wednesday to read stories with the Library Littles at the Iola Public Library. Several youngsters also sang Christmas tunes for Jolly Old Saint Nick.

Clyde Toland’s 27-year endeavor to tell about Frederick Funston’s early years is complete. “Yankee Hero: Frederick Funston, Expedicionario in the Cuban Liberation Army,” is the third and final volume of Toland’s “Becoming Frederick Funston” released…

A discarded Little Golden Book helped Elle Dominquez learn to read and fostered a lifelong love of books. She honors that experience with a collection of more than 1,000 of the books. Moran resident Dominquez…

First-graders enter the library at Iola Elementary School on a mission. It’s a Thursday morning, and they have just 45 minutes. The 80 or so students head straight to one of dozens of Chromebooks, ready…

Iola Elementary School student Cayleigh Rutherford gets a ride in a slingshot driven by owner Bill Hobbs last week. Rutherford was the first IES student to read books about each of the 50 states and…

Auri McFadden-Knock, a fourth grader at Iola Elementary School, fell in love on Thursday. The object of her affection was Remy, an 8-month-old Labrador retriever brought to the school by the Allen County Animal Rescue…